Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Shopping. Sales. Crowds. Retail focus. Lost sleep.
Sound like your weekend?
I’d love to bring the focus back to traditions. This past Thursday a new week’s worth of content was published for my Project Real Life students and the theme of this week’s content is “Part of cultivating a good life is honoring tradition”. I rounded up dozens of fantastic tradition ideas from many of my personal friends and I shared many of these traditions with my students.
But I saved all the Christmas-specific traditions for you – my blog readers. Because ’tis the season that this is on our minds, right? Enjoy the ideas. Allow yourself to be inspired. Maybe a new idea will pop into your mind. Appreciate the traditions you are carrying on in your own homes. And may this entire Christmas season have many beautiful memories in store for you and yours.
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Community = Family. The “Hill Party” is a long-time tradition for more than 60 years. Started on a little street in Arlington, Virginia nicknamed “Moroni Hill” – my dad’s family and all the neighbors on Moroni Hill would get together each Christmas Eve. Always the same menu. Always the same, familiar faces. Always a talent show that was mostly musical. The tradition continues still today with those who are around to attend. - Becky
Saving to serve others. As a family we would do extra chores during December to earn extra allowance. With the extra money we earned we would pick a family in our community that needed a little something extra that Christmas season. On Christmas Eve we would secretly deliver our presents to their doorstep and run away. Always brought the real meaning of Christmas into our hearts. - Meiken
Same meal. We have soup every Christmas Eve. – Allison
Nutcrackers for decor. Years ago we started collecting nutcrackers during the holidays and now we look for them everywhere we go. The kids point them out whenever they see them and we buy them throughout the year. We only display them during the holiday season – whether they are holiday themed or not. – Kari
No peeking! On Christmas Eve we continue Andy’s family tradition of wallpapering the kids door shut — no peeking!! On Christmas morning the kids get to burst through and see their new things. - Heidi
Ornament exchange. Instead of exchanging gifts with my siblings and all the cousins, we do an ornament exchange at Thanksgiving each year. We draw names and then buy an ornament for that person. It’s fun to choose an ornament that reminds us of that person. We have a blast seeing everyone’s reactions to their ornaments each year! When my kids leave home, they’ll automatically have a handful of meaningful ornaments to adorn their own tree! – Erin
Meaningful charms. Every Christmas Eve we would gather around the dinner table (mom always made clam chowder and chile on Christmas eve) and at each of our place settings there would be a little box. After dinner, we would go around the table and take turns opening our boxes. Inside there would be anywhere from 3 to a half a dozen charms, each signifying something special that had happened in our lives that year. They weren’t to be worn, although I do remember getting a charm bracelet the first year (so I suppose we COULD have worn them if we’d wanted to). They were simply to signify milestones in our lives… and everything we had to be grateful for. The year I graduated from high school, there was a graduation cap. One year we had a family vacation in Yellowstone, so we each got a moose charm. The summer after graduation from high school, I went to London so that next Christmas Eve, I got a charm of one of those famous phone booths in the UK. Each Christmas Eve, after looking at all our new charms, we’d immediately go back through all our old ones and talk about all those beautiful family memories they represented—things we would have easily forgotten without those silly little trinkets. Looking back, it must have been such a fun tradition for her. She would spend all year collecting special charms to serve as monuments for the most amazing occasions of our lives—what a way to keep Christmas in her heart all year long. I’m 31 now, and I still look forward to opening my box of charms on Christmas Eve. - Natalie
Book advent. A new holiday tradition we started two years ago includes buying a few new Christmas books and wrapping them with ones purchased from years past, then unwrapping a book each night and reading before bed. I wrap each one in different paper and set on the counter each morning to excite, torture and oftentimes bribe my kids. I imagine as they get older it won’t have the same effect. – Amber
Traditional cookies. My mom always made Santa cookies with us. It is a certain mold that has steps. We all have the same mold now. – Jen
Homemade wrapping paper. One of my favorite traditions in my own family is making homemade wrapping paper for the gifts we give at the holidays and for family birthdays. We use butcher paper and decorate it and write notes to our loved ones (immediate and extended family) about the reasons we love them. It’s not always a beautiful work of art but is much loved and appreciated by the receiver. - Monique
3 favorite traditions. Advent Jesse Tree, birthday cake for Jesus, driving around looking at lights on Christmas Eve. - Karen
Finding the trees. We used to drive north to the pine forests in northern/eastern AZ every day-after-Thanksgiving and cut down our Christmas tree. There were six of us kids, and as we married, spouses came too. We would not only get our own trees, but we got three or four for the school where my dad worked, for friends, and other relatives. Needless to say, we got a lot of trees every year. When we got them home, some were quite bare. They always looked better in the forest, while others were massive. It was always fun to see what our tree would look like. Some were rather comical! - Ann
Gumball quarters. We take quarters, tape, and little notes with us when we go shopping. We’ll tape two quarters and a note to a gum ball machine or ride machine in the mall and then watch from afar to see the surprise and joy on someone’s face when they see the quarters and our note saying “We left this just for you! Merry Christmas!” So fun! - Kari
Giving is gaining. One tradition from growing up that we did every year was we would go shopping for a family in need and then as a family we would get to take it to their house put it all in a big red Santa bag, ring the doorbell and RUN!! I can’t express how much all of us kids looked forward to this every year. It felt so much better to give than to get! - Megan
Ornaments. When Fred and I got married, I had the job of creating a new blended family Christmas tree that first year. So I had to sort out all of Fred’s Christmas ornaments and all mine, and be very careful to not to choose too much from one side or the other. Then as a family we decided to purchase a new ornament each year with the date. I still use 90% of those first ornaments and we love shopping together for a special “this year” ornament. My Daughter also does the new ornament each year. - Susan
Beloved box of cereal. My favorite childhood tradition for Christmas was getting our very own box of cereal! We did not have a lot of money growing up and this was so awesome! We could pick anything we wanted and it was all ours… sugar-filled or not! – Haley
Homemade candy. Every year a few days before Christmas an elderly lady would come over to our house and we would make hard tac candy from scratch. My mom would let us each choose our own flavor and color. I always chose black licorice and made it blue. I remember it took a long time to stir and when you finally could pour it into a thick layer of powdered sugar and roll it into a long snake…it was super hot so you had to be careful. After that we cut the hardening candy into bite sized pieces and rolled them into balls. All of this had to be done quickly before it hardened. We each got our own Baggie of the flavors we wanted and we passed the other out to our neighbors for a treat. I looked forward to doing this every year. - Tresure
Holiday Legos. Last year we discovered that Lego has started creating a holiday village by releasing a new piece each year. We bought the pieces we could find last year (2 of 3 available) and the kids put them together while Steve and I were setting up other holiday decor. We have already bought our new piece for this year and can’t wait to see the kids putting all 3 pieces together this year – it is so fun to see them work together as a team to make it happen … they are pretty complex creations! – Kari
Reaching out to the lonely. I remember my parents always having the youth from church over during the holidays to help make and package plates of goodies to take around to the widows and single women in our congregation and community. We now do something similar with our own family but would love to invite the youth over to do it with us. It means the world to those ladies at that time of year and often helped them feel a “connection” that was sometimes hard to come by. - Kari
Games, games, games. This is a tradition we still do with my extended family. Every Christmas we play lots of board games and card games. Because of this tradition, is is almost guaranteed that someone in the family will receive a new game as a gift. As we have gotten older and have had kids of our own, we now have multiple game sessions so that we can play games with our kids and play games with just the adults. There are always tons of snacks and goodies around while we play. – Laurie
Gingerbread. A tradition we do with our grandkids is annual gingerbread making. We get together with our 11 grandkids – sometimes all at once, and sometimes with each family group. The houses are constructed ahead of time (by me!) and the kids get the fun of decorating them and eating as much candy as they can in the process! Such fun! - Ann
Gifts for Jesus. When we set up our Christmas tree the first gift under it (and we don’t put any others under the tree for awhile afterward) is a small wrapped box with a slit in the top, and next to it is a stack of papers and pens. Throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas when anyone in our family does something nice for someone else that person writes it on a piece of paper and slips it into the box… our gifts to Jesus. On Christmas morning, before opening any other gifts, we read through all the gifts we gave to Jesus over the past month… from playing a game with Sydney when she’s sad, to taking food and hats to the homeless downtown. It really helps us focus on the real meaning of Christmas all season long! - Kari
Lighting up the community. Every year on the first Saturday of December we drive to Prescott, Arizona for their annual Christmas courthouse lighting. The high school sings Christmas carols to start off and then somebody who is of importance to the city proceeds to read the birth of Christ from the Bible. Once finished, the square is lit with thousands of Christmas lights. It is such a great feeling of community as everyone comes together to remember the true meaning of Christmas. It also gives us a little taste of that Christmas weather we sometimes miss, living in the desert! - Lynsee
Carry-over from other holidays. We fill an advent calendar for the month of December for the kids with candy leftover from Halloween. - Stephanie
Story. The one tradition that we always did as a family on Christmas Eve was to read Twas the Night Before Christmas around the tree. My children have learned the tradition in our own home because as an adult, I still get super excited about carrying on a 35 year old tradition to my own children. We snuggle around one another and dimly light the room where the tree is and read with so much excitement that we all GLOW! As a result of SO many years, I have the entire book memorized! - Deanna
Breakfast. We have little smokies (sausages) every Christmas morning – only on Christmas. - Thomas
Grateful for the simple things. When I was a little girl my family had very little money. Because of our meager circumstances, we never had money to splurge on things. Everything we ate, wore, or bought was generic. Nothing name brand. Nothing fancy or trendy. Just the simple needs. One year on Christmas morning, my dad thought he would WOW the kids with something we had never had. Captain Crunch cereal. Seems trite but we literally thought we were the richest people in the world to have REAL cereal. No knock off brands, no homemade cracked wheat or oatmeal. Real, sugary, deliciousness in all its golden glory. And all the kids would say “Oh thank you, Thank you. This is the BEST breakfast ever…” My parents loved how grateful we were for such a small but fun thing. It was such a big deal that it began to be our Christmas morning tradition. And each year we would thank my parents for the scrumptious indulgence. Over the years as we grew, and my parents became more financially stable, the Christmas breakfast has become more of an symbol rather than a ethereal treat. It reminds us that no matter how much or how little we have, GRATITUDE is the most important gift to give others. It is the gift gives both to the giver and the receiver. – Eden
The gift of adventure. The kids get to pick one present under the tree to unwrap on Christmas Eve, along with the PJs they get each year. Christmas church service is always a tradition, a non-negotiable. We also like to do one Christmas event each yea. One year it was the Polar Express, or McCormick Railroad Park, last year it was NYC, the year before that it was the play – Nutcracker. We try to switch it up. – Michele
Sentimental ornaments. A tradition I do for my kids is buy them an ornament each year from me and Phil. The ornament is something that represents them that year. I always wrap the ornaments and give it to them on December 1st after we decorate our tree. They love decorating our tree and remembering every year of their life by the ornaments that represent them. - Meiken
Booby traps! This tradition started with my mom and her growning up years. My parents always wanted to be there to see the looks on our faces when we saw the Christmas tree on Christmas morning but we were VERY early risers. So my mom would always booby trap the hallway to prevent us from getting into the living room. Of course when we would wake up in the middle of the night, we spent the rest of the night trying to get through the booby traps without waking them up. So fun! We also loved hearing stories of the kind of traps devised by my grandparents for my mom and her siblings and how they always got past them. I haven’t started it yet with my kids but maybe this year will be the first since they are now very early risers as well. - Tiffany
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Feel free to chime in with one of your favorite holiday traditions. I’d love to see inspiration continue on and on.
I LOVED to read these. Eden made me cry. This year my mother is booking my father into a home for elderly and going away to do her own thing. Something that has devastated me. I will go and see Dad every day and of course collect him for Christmas Day at our place. I want to take the kids with me every day so that they can bring a smile and happiness to many whose families may not be in their lives. You all reminded me that it is important to reach my kids that giving is SOO much better than receiving. Thank you so very much
Eden’s made me cry too!
My favorite tradition is the hanging of the outdoor lights. This is something that is exclusive to my husband and daughter and was started when she was seven. Together they would rummage thru tubs of assorted lights, pick what they wanted, check for bad bulbs, lay them out on the lawn, pull every ladder we owned out and argue about who was climbing up to hang the lights. To him it was too dangerous for his little girl and to her, he was too old to be up on a ladder. Back and forth…This was also done on what seemed the coldest day of the year too. We have carried this tradition on thru high school, college, a wedding and now with a baby in tow. Every year Rebekah calls to discuss the date and a few details with her dad and then like magic up go the lights. Nothing is better than time spent together!
Its a simple tradition but one that really means a lot to me. We all put on our favorite holiday PJ’s and make hot chocolate and then start gift opening.
Every Christmas Eve, after our kids went to bed, we would carefully lay out new pajamas outside their door..with new socks or slippers. The first thing they saw when they woke up Christmas morning were their new pajamas and they would put them on and then come wake us up! All 3 are in their 20′s now, one married, and we still do it, so now 4 pairs of pajamas get laid outside bedroom doors. So much fun still for them and for us as parents
oh that is brilliant!
I have 5 children and one on one time is a precious commodity in our house. For the past few years I have made a point to take each of them individually to do their Christmas shopping for their siblings… so they get a whole day of Mum’s undivided attention, we do breakfast and lunch… see a movie… get all their present buying and wrapping sorted… and as an extra indulgence the girls and I had pedicures and manicures too! I love the time as much as they do I am sure… and I hope this is one tradition that will continue into my old age… will be all the more fun when they are paying for lunch and the mani/pedis!
It brought the surprise and suspense and magic back into Christmas too… seeing them choose each thing and think about each other… then hide their gifts away when we got home and whispering secrets about who was getting what… then the joy of seeing them carefully place their gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve and then pass them out on Christmas morning… wonderful stuff.
I LOVED and appreciated reading all these ideas. We don’t have a lot of money to spend this year so we are doing a second hand and hand me down theme for gifts. We had a ball at the Op Shops the other day looking for bargains… the looks on their faces was priceless by the way… seeing them understand how much things can cost was another valuable lesson… not long to go now… better be getting organised… thanks for sharing all these fabulous suggestions people.
I’ve really enjoyed reading these traditions. It brought back a lot of memories from my youth. I LOVE tradition. I really like the idea of the charms. Very cool! One tradition that I use to love as a child was that on New Years Eve we would spend it with my Dad’s family and after we were done we would go and pick up my Mom’s Mom and she would spend the night at our house so she would be there to spend Christmas morning with us
No one should be a lone on the holidays.
Tara
As the youngest in my family, it was always my duty to arrange the nativity scene under the Christmas tree. The donkeys, wise men, Mary and Joseph could be arranged any way I wanted. But the one rule was Baby Jesus didn’t join the scene until Christmas morning. His figurine was carefully tucked away behind the manger. First thing Christmas morning before any presents or breakfast, Baby Jesus made his appearance. It’s small, but signifies a very important event!
At my children’s elementary school, they have a Santa’s Secret Workshop where the kids shop for gifts for their families. Items range from $1-$5. To keep these smaller gifts from getting lost in the shuffle of the bigger Christmas gifts from Santa on Christmas morning, our family of 5 exchanges these gifts with each other on Christmas Eve. The kids are so proud to pass out gifts that they purchased for each other. The hugs and thank-yous between the kids are overwhelming! They are so appreciative!
My favorite tradition from when I was little was a scavenger hunt. Each year the “big gift” was at the end of a series of clues that led me through the house (and sometimes even into the yard). It wasn’t always the most expensive gift of the year but it was always something I really wanted. The two I remember the most were the year I got a homemade cabbage patch doll (which has always meant so much more to me than the store bought ones I got in the following years) and my sophomore year of high school when I found my ticket for my school trip to France inside a new carry on bag which was inside a new suitcase. I don’t do the scavenger hunt every year with my kids but we do still do it every few years when there is a gift worthy of the hunt…
I loved reading these! Especially the one about the ornament exchange by Erin. I want to do this with my siblings. Also LOVED the tradition of the charms by Natalie – what an awesome mom she has!! Sealing the rooms with wrapping paper = priceless
Definitely going to do that this year for my kids!
I forgot to mention a tradition I do with my girls. Every year we go shopping for ornaments for the tree. They each get to pick two ornaments that remind them of the year we have had or represent something they are into right now. My oldest daughter loved purple so we have three years worth of purple ornaments on the tree – lol. When they grow up and move out they will get to take one of the ornaments from each year with them and I will keep the other one for my tree so I have all the memories of those years as well. It is so fun to watch them decorate the tree and look back at each ornament (all marked with their initials and year) and remember why they chose that particular one.
One tradition we try to follow is to save Christmas Day just for ourselves. We are usually very busy on Christmas Eve and sometimes the 26th so we like to stay at home and have nothing planned for the day except to spend it together.
Another tradition that my husband is already missing this year (we are living with family) is me decorating the house and getting everything just so when he comes home from work, the tree is up, music is playing, decorations are finished and there is a candle or more burning. I didn’t realize when I did this in the past that it made a lasting impression on him but apparently it had
I’m on lunch break at work but wanted to say THANK YOU to you and your readers for sharing. I’ve been keeping my eye out for new traditions and this is SO TIMELY.
) I will think about this this afternoon and come back to share any that I think would be interesting enough for others to try. 
LOL
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My mom always made cookies that tasted better when they were aged for a month or two. She is no longer able to make these so the cookie making has been passed to me. My brothers look forward to receiving these special cookies each year. The recipe came from a cookbook published in 1900 and some of the measurements are iffy– such as add flour until the dough looks right. None of my sisters-in-law will attempt to make these. I love being able to carry on this family tradition.
We started a new tradition this year for our sons (3 & 5 years) when our Elf on the Shelf, Jingles, arrived via special delivery from the North Pole earlier this week. The look on their faces was priceless and the excitement each morning as they look for him is so much fun, it is bringing us all joy in the sometimes hectic & stressful lead up to Christmas and reminding us to just have fun with it all.
We would all gather on Christmas eve, in the kitchen, while the living room was dark. I’m talking a few dozen kids and adults – aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
After everyone arrives, a timer goes off – turning on music and the tree and the lights, and we see that Santa just came. it’s always set at a random time, too, in case those smart little ones catch on.
The kids walk in – littlest to oldest, then we open presents and visit. It was always magical when I was a kid.
First to curb the spending craziness then to make it more meaningful, we began the tradition about 7 or 8 years ago now in which we only give one gift per person at Christmas. There are 6 in our family so we still received 5 gifts (plus stocking stuffers). For my husband and I it meant picking a more meaningful gift, albeit challenging. The kids went along right away and it has made Christmas so much more.
I just loved reading all of these ideas, it’s really got me in the Christmas mood. Thought I’d share a rather non traditional idea with you all that I came up with a few years back. As you know christmas can be a time where ( not meaning to bring the mood down ) lets just say we are not too ” green”. Now I love a good shop as much as the rest of us, so I came up with the idea , well almost a challenge I guess, to see if I could do ALL of my Christmas shopping with out using one single disposable bag. That was my challenge. So I headed out with fabric reusable bags, and do you know what? It was actually pretty simple. I have to admit I didn’t have 100% success, some of those store packers can be pretty insistent , but I think I had about 95% of my goodies in my own bags. And so I have carried this on ever since. It’s nice to think that I’m giving this beautiful planet a little Christmas gift too.
Merry Christmas everyone
After returning home from late church service on Christmas Eve, my father would take out the album set of Handel’s Messiah and put it on the big old console stereo (the kind from the 60′s and 70′s in the coffin-sized cabinet!). Then, all the lights went out and we went to bed. I would listen to the music playing through the house as I drifted off to sleep. When I was very young, I remember creeping out early on Christmas morning to look at the box that the records came in. It was black with gold angels on it, so I was convinced that it was angels singing. My father also had the tradition of saying, just as we were ready to open gifts, “Well, I think we should just put these all away until next year.” As a youngster, I would protest, but grew to play into his teasing. I have a lovely recording of The Messiah now, and my brother has taken up the tradition of great “bah-humbug” teasing of his children. I miss my dad all the time, but especially at Christmas. He had a great soft and spiritual side, along with his “stinker” side.
One of the traditions that I LOVE was actually created by my children. Each year on Christmas Eve they all sleep in the same room. It doesn’t matter where they have been on Christmas Eve, grandparents’ houses, our house, rented condos—they have all slept in the same room—it is a little interesting because we have quite a gap between children—those precious children are now 23, 21 & 11. The 23 year old is married with a baby and they all still sleep in the same room—husband and all! He’s such a trooper to do this—I love that they have wanted to continue this for my 11 year old so he’ll experience that sweet time together all through his “at home” years. I just heard my two daughters talking to my son the other day about “do you think we can all fit in the same room again this year?” Such a sweet and simple tradition. I can’t wait to keep reading everyone’s traditions!
We live 500 miles from my husband’s family and 1000 miles from mine, and have for nearly all our married life. We’ve been lucky to have one or both sets of grandparents with us most Christmases (we had most of the grandkids!), but many family members are far away. We decided to open presents from far-away family on Christmas Eve and it has been wonderful. I grew up opening presents on Christmas Eve, and my husband on Christmas morning, so our kids get to do it both ways! This way the gifts from far away get full attention, and the kids can call that night and talk to the giver and thank them. They don’t get lost in the confusion of Christmas Day. We talk about the people we are missing, and now we can even skype! Christmas lasts even longer this way. We even have a second little tree in our family room (the big tree is in the living room) that the kids call the Christmas Eve tree–that’s where we put all the gifts that will be opened that night (lots easier to find them than if they are all mixed up under one tree).
My favorite tradition is to buy a new Christmas book each year and write the year and the highlights of the year inside the cover. We have about 30 books now so I wrap them all in Christmas wrapping paper and we start opening them and reading them on the couch on the night of Thanksgiving. One per night. When someone picks the new book everyone gets a present. There are also random prizes with some books such as ice cream, etc.
We dine by candlelight throughout December. The kids (5 & 3) were so excited that we pulled the candles out tonight! We also go on a big shopping trip to Toys R Us, where we pick out toys for less fortunate kids. We take the toys to the local fire station for the Toys for Joy program. I loved doing this with my parents when I was an adolescent (I don’t think they could afford it when I was younger), and I love doing it with my kids now. My parents either come with us, or do a separate trip and take the kids too.
Hi,
There’s some brilliant ideas here:). I often find that Americans have more fun traditions than we do in the UK.
Everything in the UK is centred around the Christmas dinner & it really gets on my nerves! Also, a lot of people don’t put their decs up until a week before Christmas – boring!!!
I’m single & live on my own but still get excited about Christmas. I’m putting up my decs (decorations) this week:). I put up loads!!!
One tradition I have is to have a chocolate advent calendar. People often buy them for children but why should children have all the fun!
Another tradition we have in our family is that we open about 3 pressies in the morning (usually our main ones) & the rest after dinner & the queens speech – another tradition:)
Being single at Christmas is really hard but the decs help to make it more fun:)
We lived in the UK for three years and the biggest thing I have taken as a tradition from our time there is buying Christmas crackers for our Christmas meal. LOVE the paper hats and the kids love the POP sound…
I got this idea from my best friend, and we’ve done it for several years now. On Christmas Eve, our entire extended family, young and old, (21 of us!) draw names, and then we all go to the dollar store at the same time and buy 3 gifts for the person we drew. The fun of it is trying to keep your prizes hidden from the lucky recipient while we’re all in the store. Then we go back home and take turns giving the gifts and explaining why we chose them. It’s SO MUCH FUN!!!
I have begun buying heart shape tree decorations , a couple each year, for my 3 children, now 10, 8, 6. I hope that one day they can take out these “old fashioned decorations from grandma” and share them with their own families…: ) . I also buy 3 hearts each year, one for my mum, sister and me (as we live far apart) and send them so our tress each have a few of the same decorations….
A couple years ago, I’d read something about sleeping under the tree. I loved the idea…and so do my kids. We roast marshmallows in the fireplace and pop popcorn to munch on. Bounce around on the mattresses on the floor and read. The kids go to sleep and I practice some photography with the amazing lighting of my 2 treasures under the Christmas Tree!